Kid, the next time I say, "Let's go someplace like Bolivia," let's GO someplace like Bolivia.

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We’re the Millers

A motley crew composed of a drug dealer, a geeky virgin, a stripper and a homeless runaway team up to smuggle an enormous shipment of marijuana across the Mexican border, posing as a family. As you can imagine, they wind up being more than a little dysfunctional as a unit. Comedy ensues as they try to evade angry drug dealers, get past border guards, elude the DEA, and of course, deal with each other.

David Clark (Jason Sudeikis) is a small time pot dealer who gets in trouble when he gets robbed of his stash and his bankroll. His supplier (Ed Helms), however, offers him the opportunity to get even. If David will pick up a large shipment of weed and bring it back up over the border, he’ll not only square up his debt, but will earn $100,000 for his troubles.

David struggles to think of a way to accomplish the run until he sees a family in an RV get friendly treatment from a cop in spite of a glaring parking violation. It’s then that it dawns on him that a family is the perfect cover for a border crossing. Unfortunately, he doesn’t have a family… so he’s forced to recruit one. The naïve kid in his building who looks up to him (Will Poulter) is a good start, and he’s also able to offer some money to a young street urchin to play his daughter (Emma Roberts). He still needs a wife, though, and for that he has to turn to the stripper who lives in his building, Rose (Jennifer Aniston). He and Rose share an antagonistic relationship, so it’s not an easy proposal to make. Luckily for him, she’s down on her luck, and winds up agreeing in spite of their mutual animosity.

Will this ragtag crew be able to keep the drama in check long enough to pick up the pot and bring it back north?

“We’re the Millers” was a surprisingly amusing comedy offering. The drug smuggling scenario lends itself to certain comedic situations, but generally it was the interactions between the cast of characters (and one unforgettable spider bite 8O ) that carried the day. Sudeikis is very funny here, this is easily his funniest film role (though admittedly his filmography isn’t exactly loaded with competing titles). His combative chemistry with Aniston is spot on, and the two younger stars round out the “dysfunctional fake family” to a T.

The scenarios that unfold are a bit farfetched, of course, but the geniality of the cast goes a long way to mitigating what could be eye rolling scenarios, including Jennifer Aniston being forced to prove she’s a stripper (though in fairness, she rocks it) and an uncomfortable campground swinging scene with Nick Offerman and Kathryn Hahn. They manage to spin (near) gold out of it though, and create a film full of witty banter and funny dialogue, and some fun, funny characters, in spite of the lack of a killer plot.

So while I wouldn’t exactly call “Millers” “primo”, it’s not half bad either. It’s good enough to set a smile on your face throughout and a couple of good belly laughs over the course of its run.

You are a little more positive about it than I was but it passed the time nicely and I did not hate myself for seeing it. Did you think the stripper bit and the rating were a little misleading on who gets naked?

Liked it better than you did. Would have given it an A. Laughed a lot through the entire movie. Thought the final outake before the end credits was hysterical. The look on Jennifer’s face was priceless.

Yeah, that was definitely funny. I laughed a lot too, but I had to keep my reviewers hat on. I think overall the consensus is that it was ok… not great. Rotten Tomatoes has it at 42%, which is really low, but, just illustrates it’s getting kicked around by the critical community. :(